"How can our community be supportive for founders and start-ups or even improve the measures to support them?" The participating municipalities develop a concept with measures for regional start-up support to make a positive contribution to the number of newly founded companies. The participating municipalities can take advantage of a support offer from the organizer during stage one. Eligible for funding is the involvement of external coaches and moderators who support the municipalities in developing the concept and conducting workshops.

As a preliminary decision, the municipalities present the results of the conceptual design phase. In short presentations (10 minutes) the municipalities present the concepts developed in stage one. In a subsequent round of questions (3 minutes), the competition jury will have the opportunity to ask questions about the concept. The members of the jury are entrepreneurs with start-up experience. Convincing concepts receive the award „Excellent place for founders and start-ups“.

In addition to the award as an „Excellent place for founders and start-ups“ , the three top ranked municipalities in each category will receive prize money to realize measures from their concepts.

The winning concepts in the finals of the first round of the competition deal with the further development of the city into a "Foundercity" (Magstadt), the establishment of a start-up service office (Konstanz) and a coordinated training and event programme for systematic support from idea stage to business model (Ortenau Economic Region).
 

Start-up BW Local was nominated by an international jury for the european final (shortlisted). It is thus already considered an international "best practice".

“It is now more important than ever to support founders and start-ups as many entrepreneurs are facing serious economic implications due to COVID19. Innovative ideas and new business models will help shifting our economy towards the future. Reaching the finals of the European Enterprise Promotion Award has brought us a significant step closer to reaching the goal of making Baden-Württemberg more visible as an attractive location for start-ups,” explained Minister of Economic Affairs Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut.

"Start-up-friendly municipalities help founders to overcome bureaucratic obstacles and support them with individual offers to realize their business ideas. Since the first round of the competition in 2018/2019, we have already awarded 75 municipalities as an „Excellent place for founders and start-ups“

The award can serve as a blueprint for other start-up ecosystems worldwide. Other regions are already interested in implementing the award into their toolbox of measures to support founders and start-ups. The concept of “Start-up BW Local – start-up supporting municipalities” can be adapted easily to specific requirements in the respective ecosystems that decide to run the competition for the municipalities in their area.